Pfannebecker v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.

The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, the defendant and appellant, maintains, for the purpose of supporting its railway tracks, a dirt embankment in an east and west direction across German Creek and its valley in Keokuk County. German Creek and its valley extend in a variable north and south direction, and the water in the stream flows southward. Stretching across this expanse for approximately 2,000 feet, the fill throughout its length is 20 or 25 feet above the level of the adjacent land.

Before 1893, appellant rested its tracks on a trestle 900 feet long, over said creek and…